100 bodies from prison massacre exhumed in Peru

The bodies of more than 100 accused Shining Path rebels, slain during a 1986 prison uprising, have been exhumed in and around Lima since mid-July.

The men were all killed at Lurigancho prison. They were exhumed by prosecutors from more than a dozen cemeteries as part of a probe into a massacre of inmates who had surrendered.

Relatives of the men have been seeking criminal charges against 30 former officials of the government of then-President Alan Garcia since 2001. Their lawyer, Pedro Coello, said yesterday that the bodies were buried secretly by the military and soldiers led authorities to them.

A truth commission on Peru's 1980-2000 conflict found that more than 200 inmates were summarily executed in 1986 after riots at three prisons: Lurigancho, El Fronton and Santa Barbara.